One Little Thing and A Bigger Thing

Just a little thing that I just need to vent somewhere. It's irking me when people are saying "I got a bye in the masters series for the U.S. open!" Ok, have you not read the rules? Did you not read your fancy certificate? There is nothing on there that says "bye". For the masters series, you either qualify or you don't, there is no "bye" (hey I could do a spoof on Yoda with that!) A bye implies that you get to skip the first round. That's how Grand Prix and Steeplechase work in USDAA so I know people are familiar with the concept. But DAM and biathlon do not work like that, so I know people should also be familiar with that format. It's just bugging me and it did even before I was trying to qualify so I'm not just feeling sour grapes. If you're going to work towards winning something, why not figure out what it means before bragging about it? Off soap box. 

And now for the more discussion worthy thing. I've been trying to justify something in my head. Call it BC envy, herding dog in general envy or whatever. But the question I pose is (and I know we've all thought about it): do you HAVE to get a BC (or Sheltie if you want to compete as a small or medium dog) to succeed in agility? The discussion has certainly gone round and round before and I will probably not manage to say anything new. But name me one person who does agility on a professional level who doesn't have a BC or a Sheltie. The select few I can think of have Paps but since that's not a breed I would ever consider, I will ignore them. The point being is that with all of my struggles with Kraft and the girls, would it be wrong to give up on a breed/breeds whose personality, looks, and attitude I adore in favor of something who will be more adapted to the sport I love? Am I asking my dogs to be something they are not and would it be more fair to get a dog who will be as into the game as I am? Marron plays the game for me. Spy plays the game for the cookies. Kraft I think I did a good job fostering a love of the game, but he struggles physically and with his soundness issues *sigh*. Sometimes I wonder if what I'm asking him to do is fair. If I've molded his desire to play so much that it's not even his choice any more. I feel like maybe I'm that parent who has pushed their kid to excel and by the time they've become good at it, they love it but can no longer tell which came first. What I'm saying is that while I have always held that a BC isn't for me, and a Sheltie has too much hair, would I be doing better by my dog if I chose one of those? I could probably love a BC. I don't think I would take it herding. I just don't get that sport. But to get a BC just for agility doesn't seem right either. In a different way, I'd be afraid it would be like my relationship with Spy, outside of agility we really don't have one. A Sheltie, well I've always loved them, always will. They're what I grew up with and aren't we all a little attached to the breed we had when we were kids? But the hair! Can't do it. 

So then there are what I like to call the Border Things, the dogs that people thought would make a cool cross with a BC. Usually just their favorite breed crossed with a BC to make something better at agility or flyball or whatever their sport of choice is. Clearly, the concept works. Those Border-Jacks, Border-Staffies, Border-Whippets, and now B-Rats are some really incredible sport dogs. I'm not about to use the derogatory "designer" dogs label since I'm not really against any intentional mix so long as there is a specific purpose behind the cross, and so long as that purpose is functional (as opposed to making something with a funny name, like Chiweenie). But is this the same as choosing a dog just for agility, but makes us feel better because it has a little bit of our favorite breed in there too? I've started to be tempted by the B-Rats. They are some really awesome dogs. But am I tempted just because I think they would be a better agility dog than what I have now or because I truly like them? Is it wrong to be tempted by a dog that you think will be a good agility dog, even if you *think* you like them too? Shouldn't that be what it's about any way, choosing a dog you like who will also suit your life style? So why does it feel wrong? I don't want to pick it because it "has my favorite breed mixed with a breed that will make it better at agility", know what I mean? I want to pick it because it's right for me, that individual set of characteristics (and yes, I think mixes DO get a certain amount of common, predictable characteristics), not because it's a little bit Rattie and a little bit BC. I want to get it because it's ALL BRat if that makes sense. 

I'm several years away still from choosing another dog. But it's been plaguing me lately. Along with the idea in general that it seems like you HAVE to have a BC to be considered seriously in this sport. 

BAM

Months of barely any posts, and here's my fourth in 3 days.

Nothing dog related. There's exactly one TV show I watch: Grey's Anatomy. It started when I was in vet school and at the beginning of the series, the characters were at the beginning of their surgical internships and very much mirrored what my class mates and I were going through during school. Now, the characters have aged and matured, marrying, divorcing, having babies. Also mirroring what doctors my age are doing (well, except me, but they have a new character this season who's just like me, so HA!) So I've always felt a parallel with the characters on the show, despite how bad the medical accuracy is.

Any way, a tree took out my power lines last week, and long story short, I had three hours to catch up on between last night and tonight since last night's episode was two hours long. And all three hours were some of the most emotional on that show in a long time. At least for me. When they unplugged Derrick, yeah, brought me right back to my sister. And the first thing I thought: "Why isn't his sister there? Why didn't they tell her before they unplugged him?" Made me angry. It's just a tv show. They needed her out of it for the story line, no other reason. She stifled her feelings, had things she had to work through, but never once did she mention not being told or allowed to be there. Being on that end, yeah, one big loop hole they missed. And then, the following episode with the burn victims, the one in the hospital bed that was cracking jokes and making fun of herself and others just to make the newbie feel better, yeah, reminded me of Barbara.

Hardest two episodes of a tv show for me watch. EVER.

Nailed It

When Mary moved out, most of the yard full of equipment left too. I am down to four jumps with one set of extensions to make a triple, two tunnels (one very short one and one tattered old one that might not last the whole summer), a homemade set of PVC base weaves, a table and a dog walk that Mary left behind. Course work is going to be difficult to set up, but will make it easier to focus on dog walk exits. I picked this one to work on today, and set up 8-17.

With my modifications and a lead in and lead out sequence:

The view from the dog walk:

Surprisingly, this wasn't the hardest part of the course. Since I moved the dog walk for the first time since August, and had to set this one up for the first time on my own, I didn't quite know how he would feel about it being in a new location. I mean, he's fine on new dog walks, but HIS dog walk, that's been in the same place for 8 months? I pretty much expected him to fail and leap the contact on the first time through and I pretty much just stood there near the weaves, not cuing anything in particular with my jaw on the floor at his absolutely gorgeous contact behavior and then watched him fly by me into the tunnel. Whoops. Not how that was supposed to go. Second time, BAM! nailed it! And the third and fourth, etc as we tried to get the whole thing right. The dog walk looked great with a variety of hits, so very pleased with that. I did it the way that I thought was most difficult but fastest which was to keep him on my right the entire time. He really had to find the weave entry on his own, bend away from me to make it to the second gap, continue weaving as I passed behind him to get to the left side of the weaves, and then weave all the way into nothing while I held back so I could get up for 12. Lots of really tough weaving skills wrapped up with a hard dog walk exit. Weaves: never been a problem for him. At least I trained something right. 

What was harder was 1-3, getting him to come between the triple and 3, then doing it again 16-17-18. Did the lead out with a forced front and had to get really low to convince him to come in for the FF and not take the triple. 17 I did with a whiskey turn (a really sharp rear cross), which he did no problem once I got him to turn and not take the triple again by really holding lots of eye contact. I wanted to do 14 as a reverse wrap and have him turn to the left over it, but he kept wanting to turn right no matter how well I thought I cued the turn. Probably need to do a better job of making my whiskey cross and reverse wrap look different. So strange that in trials I'm having such a problem with standard and not as much of an issue with jumpers, but in training its these jump sequences that give me the most to work on.